Pollakiuria Increased urinary frequency

This symptom is one of the most frequent complaints of the lower urinary tract that motivate patients to seek medical help. This happens due to the impact on the quality of life resulting from it.

The frequent need to interrupt activities and dependence on having a bathroom close by may require advance planning of the patient's life, who may even avoid going to places where access to a toilet is difficult or unpredictable in some way. form.

Pollakiuria is even more severe when the urge to urinate, in addition to being frequent, is also sudden (urinary urgency, which is the main symptom of overactive bladder syndrome) or when there is a loss of urine while the patient is trying to reach the bathroom (urge urinary incontinence).

On the other hand, a patient with obstructed urinary tract, for example a man with benign prostatic hyperplasia, may also have an increased urinary frequency, without suffering from an overactive bladder. The voiding of the bladder may be very incomplete, due to the obstruction,  and the patient has the urge to urinate again in a very short time.

In this perspective, the increased urinary frequency should always be evaluated in the clinical context of the patient along with his/her risk factors and motivate the performance of complementary diagnostic tests, both non-invasive (such as the bladder diary and uroflowmetry with post-void measurement) and invasive, whenever indicated (transrectal prostatic ultrasound and urodynamic study).

Treatment should be adjusted to the pathology underlying the symptoms reported by the patient.